Anonymous Bidder Spends More Than $2.6 Million To Have Lunch With the "Oracle of Omaha"

Earlier this week, an anonymous bidder shelled out more than $2.6 million to have lunch with Warren Buffett.

This eclipses the $2.1 million that Zhao Danyang paid for the honor of having lunch with Buffett back in 2008. A lunch with Warren Buffett, who is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is auctioned off every year to raise money for the Glide Foundation.

This was the 11th year that Warren Buffett had participated in this auction to benefit the charity.

The last and final bid this year came in at a staggering $2,626,311. By shelling out this colossal sum of money, the unnamed bidder won the opportunity to bring himself and seven of his closet friends to a lunch with the "Oracle of Omaha" in New York City. The lunch usually takes place at the Smith and Wollensky steakhouse in New York City.

Investing is usually the topic of discussion at these lunches as winning bidders pepper one of the greatest investors alive with questions about the state of the market, his investing principles, etc.

For most, paying $2.6 million to have lunch with someone (no matter who it is) is an unbelievable waste of money. However, most of the winning bidders in the past have claimed that the cost was well worth it, as they were able to glean a bunch of tremendously helpful tips from Buffett.

It's interesting that a new record high bid was posted in 2010, considering the current state of the economy. 2010's winning bid was nearly one million dollars more than the winning bid in 2009 ($1.68 million). Maybe, in these very turbulent times, Warren Buffett's advice is even more important.

It's also interesting that this record bid came in a year when Warren Buffett has had to endure a tremendous amount of criticism. Buffett was savaged by the press earlier this month when he testified at a hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Buffett was forced to defend his company's (Berkshire Hathaway) large stake in Moody's - many people believe that Moody's played a "central role" in misleading investors, and Warren Buffett was forced to defend his company's very large position in the company. Some in the media accused Buffett of "defending the most corrupt business model in America just because Moody's was a good investment".

Other people noted that Buffett's testimony was "arguably the single worst day of Buffett's life from a PR standpoint."

Buffett has also had to endure criticism for multiple other reasons over the past couple of years, including: his firm's derivatives positions, his imploring of the American public to put their money to work in the markets, and his firm's deal with Goldman Sachs at the height of the financial meltdown.

Warren Buffett may have had a bad couple of years from a PR perspective, but it's clear that many people still find his advice and musings on the markets extremely valuable, including the person who just shelled out $2.6 million to eat a steak with the "Oracle of Omaha".